Tax

The tax burden in Ireland increased by 1 percentage point from 27.3% to 28.3% in 2013. The corresponding figure for the OECD average was an increase of 0.4 percentage points from 33.7% to 34.1%. The Irish standard VAT rate is 23%, which is well above the OECD average. The average VAT/GST standard rate in the OECD was 19.1% on 1 January 2014.

This database provides information on environmentally related taxes, fees and charges, tradable permit systems, deposit refund systems, environmentally motivated subsidies and voluntary approaches used in environmental policy in OECD member countries and a number of other countries. Developed in co-operation between the OECD and the European Environment Agency.

This paper describes the features of the tax, recounts the story of its interplay between fiscal adjustment and helping meet the obligations to raise taxes, and implications for competitiveness and carbon leakage, environmental effectiveness and equity issues, and draws conclusions regarding why it happened, and provides tentative insights for other countries in a similar situation.

Related Documents

Speaking at the Institute of International and European Affairs, Mr. Gurría emphasized the OECD’s continued support of the G20, outlining our work on trade and investment, unemployment, and climate change in the wake of the financial crisis.